NEWS

Germany’s new car sales fall as B2C used car sales rise

The slump in new car sales in Germany following the introduction of WLTP in September has seen the sale of business to consumer (B2C) used cars continue to rise once the traditional holiday season slump has been normalised.

The new car sales fall in September, a result of the WLTP introduction, meant German dealers and traders sold 2.1 used cars for every single new car. Whilst October saw that gap close to 1.7 it was still 10% higher than October 2017 and well above the 1.4 average for the first half of the year.

Demand strong for petrolDemand in the German used car market has been particularly strong for petrol cars where B2C used car sales have risen by 15.7% in October 2018, compared to the same month last year. By comparison, diesel B2C used car sales fell by 14.8% according to the latest Indicata data.

The UK is the other European country where traders and dealers usually sell significantly more used than new cars. It has been running at an average of 1.9 B2C used cars for every new car this year.

In the remaining three largest European car markets – France, Italy and Spain – used car sales generally followed their usual seasonal patterns, although France has yet to recover from the impact of WLTP and used cars continue to outsell new cars.

Spanish car buyers more willing to buy newThe conservative decision by Spanish car buyers to buy used instead of new cars during the height of its economic crisis continues to unwind as car buyer prosperity is leading to growing new car sales. The net effect is B2C used car sales are continuing to fall, but even in a market like Spain, which has been quite resilient against the diesel backlash, diesel is taking the brunt of the decline falling 28.9% in October 2018 versus October 2017, whilst petrol used car sales dropped 25.3% over the same period.